Bloody Rose

By: Nicholas Eames

Narrated by: Katherine Fenton

Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

A stand-alone epic fantasy adventure featuring a band of legendary mercenaries set in the world of Kings of the Wyld from author Nicholas Eames, who has been hailed as "the voice of modern fantasy" by Michael R. Fletcher.

Live fast, die young. 

Tam Hashford is tired of working at her local pub, slinging drinks for world-famous mercenaries and listening to the bards sing of adventure and glory in the world beyond her sleepy hometown. 

When the biggest mercenary band of all rolls into town, led by the infamous Bloody Rose, Tam jumps at the chance to sign on as their bard. It's adventure she wants - and adventure she gets as the crew embark on a quest that will end in one of two ways: glory or death. 

It's time to take a walk on the wyld side.

For more from Nicholas Eames, check out Kings of the Wyld.

©2018 Nicholas Eames (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"I was a big fan of Kings of the Wyld, but I think Bloody Rose has actually topped it. Eames once again hits the perfect balance of humor and heart, irreverent references and real emotion. The characters are great, the adventure is epic, and he's slowly deepening the worldbuilding in a way that has me eager for more." (Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names)

"Bloody Rose solidifies what Kings of the Wyld proved. Eames writes like a hurricane and has a voice like no one else in this genre." (Sam Sykes)

Predictable Story & Bad Characters

The book feels rushed and lacks the depth of the first book in the series. When we are introduced to the narator of the story, we are given some early detail but the outstanding part of her is her sexuality, I'm all for inclusive and more modern takes on sexual identity, but the main footnote on this character is that she is a fan girl and she is into girls, woo...

The story is extremely predictable, the foreshadowing is about as subtle as a brick to the head. The characters except the shaman are barely fleshed out and the reader doesn't even get a chance to care about them. Midway through to book you will be able to see the ending coming with little deductions.

If your came from KOTW and you want to see what Gabe and Saga got up to you'll find some tidbits, but it's twice bitter and once sweet.


I really wanted to enjoy this book and came into it excited. I found myself in a constant state of cringing and disappointment. Maybe you will find it different, if you have the extra credits give it a shot and let me know.

Have a great day.

17 people found this helpful

Young Adult Fiction

If you came into this book looking for more of Kings of the Wyld you will probably be disappointed. This is young adult fantasy fiction so if that's not your thing, you should probably save your credit. I was on a 26 hour drive so figured YA or not, I'd give it a go; I was pretty disappointed. Plot was very predictable, characters were flimsy and the book just didn't have the "fun factor" that Kings of the Wyld had.

13 people found this helpful

over yet?

slow, tiresome and predictable. like a 14 hour episode of a reality show. kept thinking is it over yet.

9 people found this helpful

What happened?

I got 9 chapters in and couldn't take it anymore. If I have to listen to one more question being answered by an obvious response, I'm going to snap my phone in half.

9 people found this helpful

Don't even bother.

I loved the first book it was hilarious and the performance was spot on.

This book is a cluster of clichés. At every opportunity the author chooses some overused troupe that made me cringe every time. The characters are absolute garbage and barely describable as one-dimensional. It's so bad I can't properly put it into word.

The performance was not great.

I wouldn't recommend this book as a door stop. Skip this one.

2 people found this helpful

only bad thing about this is the voice actress.

While Bloody Rose is a great addition to The Band series, I have a big problem with the narrator. several times in this performance she broke my immersion into the story with her casual mispronounciation or common words. Also it's like she didn't research the part by listening to the Kings of the Wyld audio book because she changes accents and just destroyed my vision of the characters established in the first book.

I'm always gonna be a fan or Mr. Eames, but please don't hire this "narrator" again.

2 people found this helpful

No a sequel - not really.

I sorely missed the sarcastic humor I enjoyed so much in Kings of the Wylde. With strong lesbian overtones, a voice that made tough characters sound like 10 year olds and a battle scene that went on for way too many chapters, I was disappointed in this book.

8 people found this helpful

Not as good as the Previous book

Seemed like a YA book with a lot of cursing. It was trying to be preachy about the adversary. The author felt it necessary to go over the same point too many times. It got boring

8 people found this helpful

Nothing Like Kings of the Wyld

Before I start out with anything else, this is not a sequel to Kings of the Wyld. While the story does happen in the same universe and does take place a little while after Kings of the Wyld, this book only mentions the characters in how they relate to the main cast of this book.

I loved Kings of the Wyld. I loved the sarcastic comedic aspects of the book while still maintaining a certain degree of seriousness. They had a goal. They knew what the general idea was. How they were going to pull it off was the story. In Bloody Rose, I feel that their is almost no comedic value happening. It tries to add in the occasional quip or joke to lighten the mood, but it never strays far from the fact that Bloody Rose, Golden Gabe's daughter, is suicidal in everything she does. I have gotten nearly 5 hours into the book (so over 25%) and have had to stop. All we as the readers know is that Bloody Rose and her band are off to do a quest. The goal of their journey is vague as hell and so does not draw me in. It does not help that I have trouble agreeing with life choices such as both Bloody Rose and her baby daddy decide to leave their child in the care of Golden Gabe and go off adventuring instead of taking care of their responsibility. I understand the idea of doing what you love for a living, but they brought a child into the world and she/he (don't think it actually says) is only really mentioned in passing. It got to the point, and I know this is bad, but I started rooting for the monsters or enemies they faced hoping they would kill off a few of the party members of the Main Cast.

I am generally of the mindset that if you do not have something nice to say, then do not say it, but I could not contain my thoughts on this book. So I apologize.

10 people found this helpful

Entertaining but lacks originality

Fans of “Kings of the Wyld” may enjoy a second romp through the world of rock ‘n roll mercenary bands with the daughter of Golden Gabe and her all-star fighters. Just don’t expect a ton of originality this time around. Elements of this story have been lifted directly from of Game Of Thrones, without even much effort to disguise it. I even noticed parts of “The Strain” in this story. This repackaging of other authors’ ideas may or may not have been intentional, but either way it definitely sucked some of the enjoyment out of this book, at least for me

4 people found this helpful